The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi has stated that Nigeria would save N640 billion by terminating Julius Berger’s contract to construct the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road.

Umahi made the statement when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee to support the government’s decision.

In November 2024, Umahi mentioned the termination of Julius Berger’s contract to construct the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road over failure to meet up with contractual conditions.

The Nigerian Senate later on issued an arrest warrant for Julius Berger for not honouring an invitation.

Throwing more light on why the Julius Berger contract was terminated, Umahi said the road project given to the company was terminated because the contractor did not abide by the terms of the contract.

He said: “By my engagement approach, I saved the nation N640 billion from Julius Berger. We wouldn’t if we had accepted to do the job for N1.5 trillion.

“Now we are not; we are saving the country over N640 billion, and we are improving the architecture of the road.

“The problem of Berger is not just a problem of cost. We said in our conditions for acceptance that this project must be completed in 14 months.

“This project is a non-vary project unless the dollar goes beyond N2000 per dollar. They refused all those conditions, and they set booby traps for us.

“We terminated the job within our rights as executives. They were fairly treated.”